US-USREPORT Summary

Oct 2, 2011, 9:26 p.m.

Anti-Wall Street protesters vow to keep up fight

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protesters vowed to keep up their fight on Sunday despite the arrests of more than 700 people the previous day for blocking traffic lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge in an unauthorized protest. Police issued more than 700 summonses on Saturday to members of the Occupy Wall Street movement who, despite multiple warnings, took part in the march on the Brooklyn-bound lanes which snarled traffic in the area until the bridge was reopened hours later.

Pride may be a problem when Bloomberg testifies in court

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Defense lawyers are hoping New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's famous self-confidence will be his downfall when he testifies on Monday against the political consultant accused of stealing more than $1 million from him, legal and political experts say. John Haggerty is charged with promising to provide a high-priced poll-watching operation for the 2009 election but, instead, using most of money to buy a house. Haggerty convinced the billionaire mayor to give the state Independence Party the money to finance "ballot security" during his reelection campaign.

California prevents ban on male circumcision

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Sunday that he signed a bill preventing local authorities from banning the practice of male circumcision. The bill, which takes effect immediately, comes in the wake of an effort by a San Francisco group opposed to male circumcision to enforce a city-wide ban of the practice in a November ballot measure.

Man accused of 1957 murder also charged with a teen's rape

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Seattle man accused of killing a young Chicago-area girl in 1957 now has been charged as well with sexually assaulting a teenage girl, Illinois authorities said. The suspect, Jack McCullough, was charged in July with the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois. He is being held at the Dekalb County, Illinois jail in one of the nation's oldest cold cases of murder.

New York teen bullied even in death

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - Weeks after the suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer in western New York, school officials, police and lawmakers are grappling with ways to prevent the kind of schoolyard bullying being blamed for his death. The openly gay teen's parents Tim and Tracy Rodemeyer are calling for changes in how New York schools handle the kind of chronic harassment that drove their son to kill himself outside their suburban Buffalo home on September 19.

Homeowners gradually rebuild in tornado-ravaged Joplin

JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) - Four months ago, a tornado swept Rick and Jolene Huffman out of their house and dumped them unconscious into a clearing more than a block away. A harrowing way to lose their home and nearly their lives but the Huffmans are rebuilding on the same spot, undaunted by memories of the tornado or devastation of their neighborhood.

Latter-day Saints launch "I'm a Mormon" ad campaign

DENVER (Reuters) - "The Book of Mormon" debuted this year as a Broadway hit that won nine Tonys, and the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination features not one, but two candidates of the Mormon faith. Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is launching a major expansion of its "I'm a Mormon" advertising campaign, which, church officials say, seeks to educate the public and dispel myths about one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.